We don't need no stinking Designer!

But, wait! Here's why designers are good.

1. A professional design will keep all of your contractor bids and budgeting on even ground.
2. A professional design can minimize changes, and therefore costs, during construction.
3. A professional designer will tailor the design to you, giving you a better design that you will enjoy longer.
4. Now matter how awesome you are, bouncing ideas off of someone else will give you a better product.
5. A professional designer will pick the best plants for you, not the most convenient plants.
   

Think about this, you have a general idea what you want to do with your yard. You talk to three contractors and tell them your idea. They say great and give you three different prices. You take the middle price, thinking that one is safe. But halfway through construction you realize that the contractor isn't doing things the way you wanted. Now you have to make changes and add in extra costs. Your yard is done, it looks good, but now that you see it, you kind of wish you had done some things differently.

If you had started with a designer, there would have been loads of ideas to go through. Many times clients don't settle into what they really want until halfway through the process. So now you have plenty of time to think about your landscape, lots of ideas to consider, things are well placed in your yard. You get bids from the same three contractors and they are all much closer this time because the contractors are all bidding on the same things and not just guessing. Now you also have less surprises during construction and less changes. You are also more able to construct portions yourself or build your landscape in phases.

It might seem like you paid more money up front to hire a designer, but in the end it can save you money. It not only makes construction smoother, but a well-designed plan tends to last longer and be more satisfying. That means you wont be changing your landscape any time soon, and that saves a lot of money.